"And so some clever fellow, a Sicilian perhaps or Italian, writing in allegory, by a slight perversion of language named this part of the soul a jar, because it can be swayed and easily persuaded, and the foolish he called the uninitiate, and that part of the soul in foolish people where the desi...

"Imagine, then, for the sake of argument, that our minds contain a block of wax, which in this or that individual may be larger or smaller, and composed of wax that is comparatively pure or muddy, and harder in some, softer in others, and sometimes of just the right consistency."

"But for the retention and preservation of these forms, the 'phantasy' or 'imagination' is appointed; which are the same, for phantasy or imagination is as it were a storehouse of forms received through the senses."

"Furthermore, for the apprehension of intentions which are not received through the senses, the 'estimative' power is appointed: and for the preservation thereof, the 'memorative' power, which is a storehouse of such-like intentions."

"Till we grow to some ripeness of years, the soul of man doth only store itself with conceits of things of inferior and more open quality, which afterwards do serve as instruments unto that which is greater; in the meanwhile above the reach of meaner creatures it ascendeth not."